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Ceasefire or handover? Kurds unconvinced by Trump's 'lifesaving' deal
By Matthew Knott and Michael Bachelard
New York/Duhok, Iraq: Kurdish leaders have rejected a US-brokered ceasefire deal with Turkey in north-east Syria despite Donald Trump's proclamation that it would save "millions of lives".
Turkey agreed to the US deal to allow Kurdish fighters in the region to withdraw, in return for the lifting of sanctions on Turkish officials that President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week.
US Vice-President Mike Pence announced the agreement following more than four hours of talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara on Thursday local time (Friday AEDT).
Fighting continued in north-west Syria despite an agreement between Turkey and the US.Credit: AP
His aim was to bring a halt to the deadly conflict on the Turkey-Syria border prompted by Turkish offensive dubbed "Operation Peace Spring".
The Kurds' commander-in-chief in Syria, Mazlum Abdi, welcomed the ceasefire but, in an interview on local TV, denied one of Turkey's key aims, saying Kurds were not prepared for Turkey to move refugees from other parts of Syria into the Kurdish "safe" zone.
"Demographic change must not be carried out," he said. "The people of this region must return to their own homes and land. The aims of the attackers must not be realised."
Aldar Khalil, a Kurdish official quoted on Kurdish media, said: "We've previously stated that the proposal of Turkey's [sic] entering a depth of 30km inside Syrian territories is rejected."
On the ground in Syria, the Rojava Information Centre quoted sources saying war continued in the city of Sere Kaniye (known in Arabic as Ras al-Ain) after the agreement was announced, "with warplanes, drones and ground assault. No ceasefire there yet."
In Qamishli, though, a city in the east of the country, the announcement prompted "deafening" celebratory fire from Kurdish forces.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey had agreed to a "pause" in its military operations but refused to describe it as a ceasefire.
"This is a pause, it is not a ceasefire because a ceasefire takes place between two legitimate parties.
"The goal of the operation was the removal of terrorists from the safe zone and this is why we are pausing the operation."
Cavusoglu added: "We will only stop the operation if our conditions are met.”
US Vice-President Mike Pence meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Credit: AP
Turkey's assault aimed to clear YPG Syrian Kurdish fighters from a 32-kilometre-deep "safe zone" along the border.
"The Turkish side will pause Operation Peace Spring in order to allow for the withdrawal of YPG forces from the safe zone for 120 hours,” Pence said.
"All military operations under Operation Peace Spring will be paused, and Operation Peace Spring will be halted entirely on completion of the withdrawal," he said.
Trump quickly celebrated the agreement on Twitter as a "great day for civilisation".
"I am proud of the United States for sticking by me in following a necessary, but somewhat unconventional, path," he wrote.
"People have been trying to make this 'Deal' for many years.
Pence and Erdogan met at the presidential palace in Ankara on Thursday, local time.Credit: AP
"Millions of lives will be saved. Congratulations to ALL!"
In a blistering speech on the Senate floor, Republican senator Mitt Romney said: "What we have done to the Kurds will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of American history ... I note that lives have already been lost and American honour has already been tarnished."
A statement put out by the Turkish government and styled as a "Joint Turkish-US statement on north-east Syria" said the 30-kilometre safe zone would be "primarily enforced by the Turkish Armed Forces".
Heavy weapons in the possession of the Kurdish YPG would be "re-collected" and their fortifications and fighting positions disabled.
Australians 'buoyant'
The 20 Australian women living with their 46 children in the al-Hawl camp for former Islamic State brides were "buoyant" after the announcement, their spokesman Kamalle Dabboussy said.
He has been pushing for the Australian government to get them out of the squalid camp of 70,000, so far without success. He says this deal and the ceasefire should allow that to happen.
Turkish-backed Free Syria Army fighters on the Turkey-Syria border. Credit: AP
"The government's argument that it's too dangerous to operate in there is nullified now," Mr Dabboussy told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
"The government should take the opportunity and must act immediately to make safe the 46 plus children and their mothers ."
Surrender agreement
The peace deal appeared to some analysts to deliver everything Turkey had wanted from Operation Peace Spring, including the full withdrawal of the Kurdish militia from the area within five days.
"The US just ratified Turkey's plan to effectively extend its border" said former US presidential envoy in the region, Brett McGurk, describing the policy as "un-implementable".
Foreign policy analyst Elizabeth Tsurkov said the Turkish statement made it sound like a "surrender agreement".